Impossible To Ignore
by Miss Furu
Summary: LC RS After being abandoned, Sora finds himself all alone until Cloud and Leon show up to come and take him home with them. A year of living in hollow Bastion passes, and one day Riku arrives after escaping the realm of darkness to reunite with his best..
1. Chapter 1

Introduction: LC RS After being abandoned, Sora finds himself all alone until Cloud and Leon show up to come and take him home with them. A year of living in hollow Bastion passes, and one day Riku arrives after escaping the realm of darkness to reunite with his best friend. The four men of the house end up developing unthinkable feelings for each other, but it's whether they deny them or accept them that counts.

Warnings: Death (not any of the main characters of course!), Sex (coming in later chapters), and language.

--- Hey guys, I really hope you enjoy this. This will be my first yoai fic but I've read a lot of them so crosses fingers I pray for the best. Anyway, this does start out showing how Sora lost his parents and how Cloud and Leon came to rescue him then it goes right to present day where there's some Cloud Leoniness. The first chapter contains a bit of slash content, but much more shall come once I have the introduction of what's going on out of the way. Rated M for language and eventually loads of sexual content. Yay, slashy goodness!--

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**ONE YEAR AGO**

Sora Hikari rubbed at his sore red eyes as more tears made their way down his face. _I need to stop this_. He thought to himself taking a deep shuddering breath. He replayed the semi-comforting words over in his mind that the kind cop had told him a couple of days before…

"'It'll all be okay, son... It's over now and there's no reason to be scared anymore… He's locked up and he wont hurt you ever again, I promise you that.'" Sora whispered under his breath, which made more pain filled tears rise to the surface and tumble down his flushed face. He roughly wiped them of with the back of his hand and breathed in another long inhale of air. Blinking hard, the teen picked up the crinkled newspaper lying on the floor beside him, and held it in front of his face with shaking hands, once again trying to read the front-page article:

**16 Year Old Boy Loses Mother and Father In Tragic Murder Case**

Two Days ago, Sora Hikari, age 16, was seen running from his home towards a neighbor's house, clothing torn and crying out for help. When he arrived to the closest house on the street, says neighbor, Kiyari Hantu, he was pounding on the door screaming for someone to call 911 and help his mother who was bleeding to death. Ten minutes later, police went to the house to investigate and found Rayne Hikari's body lying on the living room floor, and his father's sitting in a distant corner, both drenched in blood. Later, officials learned that the father had a bad distemperment issue and would become consistently brutal and abusive to both Sora and his mother. He had been drinking the night of the deaths and came home in drunken fury. When his wife tried to settle him down and keep him quiet, he pulled a sharp kitchen knife on her. Rayne was stabbed 20 different times before a drowsy Sora, woken up by the screams, came down the steps to witness his mother lying on the floor. After his son ran for help, the father took his own life in regret and guilt. Sora Hikari was taken to the police station for private questioning and he has refused to answer any other questions asked by the media. Such a tragic story to our ears…

"No! Stop it! You know nothing!" Sora suddenly screamed, anger filling his strained voice. "I'm all alone now! I have no one! You stupid, fucking reporters, who still come home every day to your stupid, fucking families and only care about your stupid, god damned articles so you can get you stupid, fucking paychecks and go on living YOUR STUPID, FUCKING, PERFECT LIVES!"

With the last couple of words leaving his lips, the teen ripped apart the newspaper piece for piece, shredding it to scraps with his nails and sending the stray strips floating to the floor in odd patterns. "YOU DON'T CARE! I HATE YOU ALL! I HATE YOU DAMNED PEOPLE WHO THINK YOU CAN FEEL MY PAIN! I HATE YOU! ROT IN HELL!" he yelled at the top of his aching lungs.

The flustered brunette flopped himself across the floor (like a small child having a tantrum in a candy shop) and started grabbing angrily at the small pieces of newspaper and throwing them all askew while gripping at them and trying to shred them smaller still. His voice came out more and more shrill and crackled as he screamed out odd mumble jumble that didn't make sense and kicked at the ground with his old worn-out sneakers.

"You!… Just!…don't know…" The teen suddenly unclenched his fists, letting the final pieces drop from his fingers to the carpet. He let out a soft whimper as he buried his tear-marked face into his arms and reclenched his fists, this time more of pain than rage. Soon his whimpers led to full out tears and he lay sprawled across the ground sobbing onto his dampened sleeves and letting out wails of sorrow. "Oh god! It hurts so much more without them here… I know it sounds stupid…but… It's s-so l-lonely-"

He nearly smacked himself in the face with one of his shaking hands when he was cut off from his mourning by three sharp thuds of knuckles against the door to his house, opposite in the room from his current position.

"GO AWAY!" Sora screamed at the door from when he was laying. "I TOLD YOU THAT I WONT ANSWER ANY DAMN QUESTIONS YOU HAVE, AND WHEN I SAID THAT, I MEANT NEVER!" He finished with a sharp intake of breath, and then went back to letting out a few more stray tears and wiping loose snot against the soft fabric of his hoodie sleeves.

Sora was so sorrow stricken that he never even noticed the clicking sound of the front door opening as a tall spiky, blonde haired man, followed closely by a just as tall if not taller, scowling brunette walked in towards the crying teen with sympathetic gazes in their eyes. The stern brown haired man stayed back against a wall, looking quite uncomfortable at how to react to the crying person's condition, while the blonde, who knew exactly what to do, walked closer to the pitiful being with confidence and slowly knelt down on one knee next to him.

"Sora?"

The smaller brunette looked up with red, tear crammed eyes at the sound of the familiar and oh so comforting voice. "Sora…" The older man said again sweetly, pushing strands of clumped, wet bangs from the crying boy's eyes and smiling a sad yet warming smile. "It's okay. You don't have to be alone any longer. Leon and I…we've come to take you home…."

**PRESENT DAY, HOLLOW BASTION**

"One whole year already…" Sora whispered to himself in amazement as he stared up at the blue cloudless sky from his favorite sitting spot under a rather large willow tree. "When I say it out loud like that it makes it even harder to believe how fast time flies." He turned his face upwards more so he could stare up through the bent limbs and quivering leaves of the weeping willow.

When he first moved to Hollow Bastion, he went out on many adventures by himself because it gave him a lot of alone time to think things through, and he kinda liked it that way. He'd checked out all the many shops of the world that he hadn't visited in so long, and also searched out the different areas that were usually abandoned and quiet, looking for the perfect thinking spot. Eventually he found himself automatically walking to this serene place whenever he got upset, or to ponder over random things and reminisce over his previous adventures… the one's before everything happened that changed his life… the ones with just him, Riku and Kairi on their small island, and that was what made the special tree become his spot.

He sighed unhappily and flopped himself backwards ontop of dead tree leaves and dying grass, letting his head rest on a rather large root as he stared dreamily at the sky. Cloud and Leon had been very good to him over the past year. In fact, they've been good to him for as long as they've known him…. But they couldn't ever totally replace the empty hole in Sora's heart after he lost Riku and Kairi.

Sora blinked hard, trying not to get himself too upset and picked up some leaves resting beside him to throw up in the air and watch them spin floatily to the ground like mini helicopters. _Hmm… thinking of Cloud and Leon, I wonder what they're up to right now… probably arguing over something ridiculous, chances are…_ Sora thought to himself with a little smile.

**At the House**

"All these game you play you're messin' with my head!…" Cloud hollered out in a singsong voice as he swung his hips to the beat of an old Good Charlotte song and he did half assed headbangs in front of the kitchen counter. He shouted the next couple of lines out loudly and off key, clearly trying to drown out Joel's voice with his own and get the man sitting at the kitchen table's attention. Of course, like always, his antagonizing antics worked and Leon looked up from the magazine he was reading to send a quick frown towards the obnoxious younger male.

"You're never going to quit, are you?" he questioned grimly, picking up his glass from the table and taking a sip of Coke as he continued to glare at the man who began to grin proudly. "Is that really necessary today?"

Cloud laughed in response and plastered his best imitation of an innocent look on his face. "What? This?" he let out an odd chuckle as he wiggled his hips exotically and began a full-fledged head banging session in the middle of the kitchen floor. At the same time, at the top of his lungs, he sang out more memorized lyrics: "AND I KNOW THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE, AND I KOW YOU'LL TREAT HIM LIKE ME, BUT I DOOOOON'T WANNA STOP!" He belted the lines, making a poor imitation of a rock-on sign with his hand.

"…Retard…" Leon murmured to himself, throwing another distasteful look then pulling the magazine up in front of his face to try and block out the view of the ridiculous looking man best he could. "Isn't it about time you got rid of that piece-of-shit album anyway? You've had it for five very long anguishing years now. I'm so damn sick of hearing it every day of every week of every fucking year it isn't even funny…" He stated harshly, rustling the magazine to knock out a crease in the page he was staring at blankly. It was true. Cloud had listened to that same damned Good Charlotte CD for the past year almost every… single… day…. It never seemed to have an end. Leon blocked it out every time he saw the other man pop it in his player, and yet he found himself going over every sung word in his head like a fucked up karaoke machine without the colorful lights. He felt bad for himself… he had the whole album memorized front to back and left to right without even realizing it.

Cloud let out an imitation of a mortified gasp and jumped in front of his old boom box, hugging it protectively. "Never!" he stated defiantly. "You're just a heartless fiend who doesn't understand the importance of their songs." When he got a shrug and a "whatever" from Leon, who was clearly now trying his best to ignore him, Cloud angrily went back to finishing up his sandwich on the counter and began singing along with Joel again. He kept stealing glances over at Leon to see if he was watching him, or at least noticing he existed… he didn't. _Fine then, wanna play that way, do ya? _Cloud thought mischievously to himself. _You can't ignore me your whole life, pal. _He smiled grimly at his own scheming thoughts.

When it reached the end of the song (so much to Leon's detest), Cloud did a graceful little spin across the linoleum floor and happily plopped himself down sideways into the brunette's leather clad lap. He flashed him one of his captivating smiles as he flung an arm around the taller man's neck. This made Leon compose an unhappy sound in his throat and anger rise in his features as his magazine dropped clumsily to the ground.

"Go away, Cloud." Leon grumbled, glaring at the blonde haired man and attempting to push him away. But Cloud, who was prepared for this reaction and was too quick for this, easily grabbed both of Leon's protesting arms by the wrists and gripped them tightly, holding them hostage in between the both of them. He leaned slightly forward, daring to look straight into the other man's cold indigo eyes with his own bright blue eyes. God, how he just wanted to place his lips firmly around the brunette's and taste their delicious essence, to take that sharp, strict tongue of Leon's with his own and run his curious fingers through his thick silky brown hair as he pressed his own aching body against the other's finely taut one…

Just for once did he want the unhappy person sitting under him to smile back and hold him securely in his strong arms and tell him how much he really cared about him… and want him back. But those were all fantasies in Cloud's disturbed mind and chances were it would happen as soon as Hollow Bastion froze over twice in mid-June (especially considering it was none other than the stubborn refused to show emotion none other than drum roll… Leon!).

The truth was… Cloud wanted Leon just as much as people in hell want ice water. Wait no… even more than that. He craved him, lusted a simple touch or brush of elbows that sent goosebumps spreading across his body like a wildfire. Even so, a rare gentlefriendly look across his face when he looked at Cloud, just like Leon always had when he talked to Sora, was fine in the optimistic man's book. That's all he wanted right then: acceptance from the only man he'd ever looked upon with a whole new meaning of love and the confidential compassion which he had been keeping in his overloaded heart ever since he first laid eyes on him.

"Awe, don't deny it, Squall…" The blonde replied, still smiling and trying to act like Leon's cruel words hadn't phased him one bit. Still gripping his arms, Cloud moved a bit closer so that the tips of their noses were barely touching each other. He could feel the hot breath of the brunette across his lips and it sent crazy sensations up and down his spine. He shivered and tried to blow off his own feelings to finish his witty remark. "You want me… you really do, and you're just scared to admit it." He laughed. Actually… it was more of a laugh that faded into a poorly forced chuckle.

Leon's eyebrows furrowed together, his expression showing deep dislike; obviously not thinking what Cloud was doing was humorous in any way. "Go fuck yourself if you think you're so irresistible, then." He spat sourly at him, conjuring up a loathing look in his eyes, as he continued to glare back at the younger man. "And if you want your head to continue sitting safely on your shoulders I suggest you never call me Squall… ever… again."

His intimidating-sounding threat only made Cloud smile wider. This led Leon to yet more frustration and bewilderment. _What the hell is he trying to get at, with that damn stupid goofy smile plastered across his face? Why wont he just get the fucking hint and go away? Can't he see that I WANT him to just leave me go? Forget about me…please…go…_

The brunette's eyes flickered wide open in astonishment as the blonde, without warning, leaned forward just enough so he could stroke the tip of his nose gently against Leon's. "Ouch. You know, Leon, that kinda hurt my feelings… but I'll have to let it pass since I know you didn't really mean it." The younger man ended his last sentence in almost a whisper, letting his breath tickle the crook of the other's neck. He continued caressing their noses together genteelly a few more times and smirked as he saw the untouchable person beneath him close his eyes tight in concentration and take in a few long deep breaths to keep control of his raging emotions. Cloud was getting to him, and Cloud liked it.

_Please… just leave me, Cloud. You don't know what you're getting into. If you did, you wouldn't want me anymore… please…don't do this to me… or to yourself. You'll only get hurt... I'll only get hurt; you can't fool around with people like this…._

In all honesty, Leon was having quite a hard time right about then trying to keep the rhythm of his heartbeat at a steady pace and keep it from going absolutely insane like it wanted to, and end up ramming right out his chest cavity for all to behold. He was doing a pretty good job of it too, considering all the mixed up feelings swarming around throughout his whole body. Leon knew he wanted Cloud, oh yes, he definitely knew that much. How couldn't one, really, all you had to do was take one look into those intriguing blue eyes that always glitter with mischief and glance over his soft locks of sunshine yellow hair that made you want to run your palms continuously against the spikes… Oh, and you're good as lost once you trace your glace down those sleek feminine like curves of his hips that align perfectly with his fine muscled legs that looked oh-so-good in leather or tight jeans…

No! He had to stop thinking like this! His hormones must be getting to him, that's all. He could never love Cloud; never… and Cloud would never love him back, they were just too different at heart. The blonde was tricking him into believing that he really loved him, accepted him for the prude he knew he was. The smaller man was trying to seduce him and tease him by using his own emotions against himself, but Leon was too smart for that. He wasn't about to give in to one of Cloud's stupid games and get his heart broken again. He was positive that was all this was to the blonde… a sick little game to turn the inflexible man into mush and toy around with his heart, then throw him aside when he'd had enough. He re-opened his eyes to see the other man still on top of him.

Cloud continued letting out random little flutters of breath that skimmed across Leon's neck as he carefully observed the male's expression, and to his surprise, he briefly saw a new sentiment in the stern man's eyes. Something had managed to replace the cold intensity of his glance, but the blonde couldn't quite tell what it was. Confusion? Pain? Sadness? Love, even? No, not the last one… he only wished it was and it made his heart nearly rip in two as he realized that neither love nor lust was what he saw... it had to do with suffering... for some reason the older person felt a kind of suffering. It was hard to ponder over for it only lasted a couple of seconds, and then Leon went back to his usual repugnant self towards the immature man.

With one last lungful of air; the fury-stricken male finally opened his mouth to speak out another string of cruel words. "You're really lucky Sora likes you so much, otherwise I'd have already kicked your sorry ass out of this damned house." He snarled drawing his eyebrows back together in disgust. Then with one strong, swift movement, the taller man shoved Cloud out of his lap and sent him tumbling to the solid floor where he sat in shock.

Leon stood up, still glowering down at the blonde who was rubbing at his sore bum, a look of discomfort on his face. "You're sorely mistaken if you think you can play around with me like that… Cloud." With that he stepped heavily in his strapped-up, black boots, over the man still positioned on the ground and briskly strode out the room.

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Author: Awe, poor Cloud, but don't worry, things will work out eventually, otherwise I wouldn't have ever done that... or would I?

I never had this Beta read, but if someone who reads this and likes and thinks they could help me out, please let me know!

More slash to come, and who shall be returning to Hollow Bastion? Why none ither than Riku of course! Can't leavepoor Sora all alone without love, now can we?Comments and advice are greatly loved and all who sumbits a review shall be loved til death! 3

Thanks!

Jenni


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, I'm back and guess what I brought with me? Yes, that's right! Another installment of Impossible to Ignore. Claps hands together I would like to thank all who read and reviewed my first chapter, have a Sora shaped cookie! Gives out cookies If you'd rather have a Cloud one, you can't! Bwa ha ha! Because they are still in the oven! Oh and I apologize up front about the lateness…

I really appreciate you guys! 3

Anyways, if you were wondering about the first chapter, I do love Good Charlotte. I liked them when they first came out (more like obsessed) and to this day I still wear the GC tee shirt that I own occasionally. I think it's good to never forget the good things that you enjoyed when you were younger. I know a lot of people think they are somewhat dorky and if you like them you're a poser, but I kind of grew up with them and their songs were really easy for me to connect to (along with Blink, Sugarcult, and Simple Plan. Heh). I just had to make Leon hate them, because it makes it all the more fun to make Cloud annoying when he's yelling it at the top of his lungs like I do. Lol.

Alright, not to ramble on, but I wanted Cloud to like GC because of the personality I gave him. I figured he was more like a punk rocker/ obnoxious type in my story and Leon was a more Metal/Hair Metal kind of a person. I tried to make them appear opposites; I hope it worked out so far. " All right won't keep you from reading the new chapter. A lot of you probably skipped most of that anyway so you could read the story, I don't blame you. I tend to talk too much claps hand over mouth.

Chapter Two

"Damnit Leon! You're such an asshole!" Cloud shouted after the brunette from where he was still sitting on the linoleum. He angrily slammed his fist onto a leg of the kitchen table compelling a glass to quiver then fall over and juice trickle over the edge of the table. All of it poured out, making an orange puddle on the floor. The blonde sighed heavily, closing his eyes tightly in aggravation.

"Couldn't you just give me a chance for once?! Instead of pushing me away every time?!" He growled a bit quieter between clenched teeth, slowly opening his eyes and letting two single tears escape his eyelids and glide down his flustered cheeks. He quickly wiped them away, pretending that they weren't even there and forced himself a dead smile. He shouldn't be like this, it wasn't like him. Everyone was always looking for the kindness in Cloud and looked to him if they needed comforting, so he'd just have to do the same for himself to make himself feel better this time.

_Don't sweat it, Cloudy. _He mentally told himself, desperately trying to keep down a few more tears that were rising to the surface. _This is no worse than the other 80 some times you've tried before. They all end the same, Leon going through and outburst and you being left alone, feeling stupid. Things will get better again, go back to normal in a couple days like nothing happened, and he'll go on pretending to hate you. I guess I can't really say that they get better, but… they go back to the way things were, and they never get worse. Negative attention is better than none at all, right?_

Cloud mindlessly scooted away from the orange juice which was starting to creep in it's own river-like patterns across the kitchen floor, one of which was getting really close to his right leg…

He just went on thinking to himself like the juice wasn't there: _I have him figured out more than he thinks though. Ha! What he doesn't realize is all the times I catch him watching me with that same look in his eyes. I never can really tell what the emotion is, or what it means, but what I CAN figure is that it isn't that same blank stare he always attains. He only ever looks that way when he thinks I wont notice or when he knows I'm not looking back at him. How sneaky! It's always just a really quick glance, but an unmistakable one at that…and it makes me feel good inside, because those are the things that convince me the most that he doesn't entirely hate me... _Cloud beamed at this, picturing in his mind one of the many times while he was cooking on the stove. He would turn suddenly to get an ingredient that he had forgotten in the fridge and steal a short glance of Leon observing him contently from behind _Metal Head Magazine_.

_It's all right, though, Cloudy. Really it is. Someday he'll give in, and you'll have him all to yourself to love and do dirty things to... _Cloud shook X-rated images (from his many fantasies) out of his mind and tried to tell himself sweet things instead:_ Leon needs me, but he also needs to admit that to himself. I have to give him time to confide trust in my emotions, and me, so he's not so insecure about my feelings. He's been through a lot of unreasonable and painful things, but eventually he'll want to forget all about them and try and start a new life for himself. A person can't hold everything in forever, right? If you do, you eventually explode or have some kind of breakdown and get sent to a mental institution. God, I hope it doesn't go THAT far! Though I probably could get him in an asylum now... If you ask me, he's a bit loony in an "I'm going to rip your throat out and shove it up your ass" kind of a way…. _

Cloud let out a small chuckle and glanced back towards the empty doorframe to make sure Leon hadn't returned to chastise him any more than he already had. The blonde shrugged, and then stretched his legs out straight across the linoleum, letting out a rather loud yawn. Damn, trying to seduce Leon then cheering yourself up after the crash and burn sure did take a lot out of one, didn't it? He slowly twisted his upper body around, facing the wall behind him to stretch out his torso, and then turned back the normal way and let his muscles contract and relax. They had tensed up and had become quite painful due to the stressful event.

"A little nap wouldn't hurt, would it?" He questioned out loud as he suppressed another hefty yawn. "It's not like I have anything to do today… anymore…. All the exciting stuff's already happened." This made him grin a bit wider, and feel a little bit dirty again…

He shook his head again, pushing it off with a chuckle as his body started to feel unusually heavy. Cloud straightened out his whole figure, lowering the upper part of his body across the cold, kitchen floor and then shifting to his side. The blonde pulled his legs up to his chest, and then genteelly rested his head on top of his arms, creating his own little homemade pillow. Good Charlotte still continued to fill the room from his small boom box on the kitchen counter….

As his eyelids became heavy and his vision started to blur, Cloud smiled towards the doorway, imagining Leon standing there, leaning against the doorframe. "This doesn't change how I feel… Leon." He whispered in a barely audible, dreamy voice. "I'll only try harder… I'll never give up…" His eyes closed and he let out a heavy, fatigue filled sigh. "…never…" Cloud sweetly smiled to himself and drifted to a peaceful sleep.

Leon stuck his head around the corner to peek into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes when he saw Cloud lying across the floor, curled up like a baby, and snoring rather loudly. He had known something was up when he couldn't hear Cloud carrying on dramatically anymore, or knocking things over. After a while of standing just around the corner from the kitchen doorway, and listening to the blonde go on a rant and slam angrily at random items, he decided to peek in on him, just in case he decided to do anything stupid. It wasn't like Cloud to harm himself (or even get extremely angry in that case) but he would definitely go out of bounds when there was something in the way of him getting what he really wanted, the bullheaded little creep.

Leon could tell he'd gotten over it rather quickly though, for it was exactly like the younger male to casually just lie on the tiled kitchen floor and just fall asleep like it was normal or something, so the brunette was expecting something along those lines when he found him. Looking at Cloud had made Leon angry all over again. _How could that idiot be so dense and fall asleep right after what just happened? What the hell is wrong with him?! That man is anything but normal, I tell you! And I bet as soon as he wakes up he'll be all cheery again and act like a perverted pest trying to get my attention… and wait for a few days to try another one of his seduction schemes on me! _

"Damned stubborn-assed, optimistic, psychotic, arrogant, little…" He whispered furiously trailing off a stream of words, shaking his head and glaring at the sleeping figure. "You'll never fucking learn, will you?"

Leon stared at the blonde's sleeping body for a few more seconds silently, before turning away. "I guess I have no choice but to leave you there and let you sleep on the floor like an idiot. I'm sure Sora will eventually find you… if he ever decides to come home." As Leon started to walk away, he took one more glance over his shoulder at the sleeping blonde laying there in tranquility without a care in the world, then closed his eyes tightly and continued his route to the living room.

TWO HOURS LATER

Sora walked in through the front door, quite content and his face a bit red from being outside in the summer heat. "I'm back!" He called from the doorway as he slipped off his worn out sneakers, throwing them out of the way where they landed on a pair of Clouds old converse with a dull thud. No one answered him. Odd.

"I SAID: I'M HOME!!!" Sora projected louder, scuffling his sock-clad feet over the carpeted floor as he glanced suspiciously over the empty house. Sora stopped in his tracks and raised a suspicious eyebrow. He made his breathing as quiet as possible to see if he could catch any sign of life in the place. This time he heard a grunt from the direction of the kitchen, and headed that way, his eyebrow still showing his suspicion.

He walked in immediately turning his head to the small CD boom box which was playing punk rock music. Good Charlotte, eh? Definitely Cloud's doing. "Must have put it on repeat…" Sora said to himself, amused. "I bet Leon's beating his head against a wall somewhere."

As the spiky haired boy made his way over to the CD player to turn it off, he noticed a head full of bright yellow locks of hair splayed across the tiled floor.

"What the…?" Sora whispered in curiosity as he made his way around the table… only to find Cloud snoozing happily, curled up like a small child (thumb in mouth and all) across the tiling. Sora snorted and quickly covered his mouth with a free hand, trying not to burst out laughing. One thing was for sure: living in the same house as Cloud made things… interesting.

"Should I wake him up?" Sora pondered out loud, smiling to himself. "Or should I leave him here for Leon to stumble across…?" He chuckled, shaking his head at the image of Leon beating Cloud's head in for tripping over his sleeping body in the middle of the kitchen floor. As amusing as it was, he decided to save Cloud the trouble… and headache and bent down to prod the blonde gently in the arm.

"Hey sleepy-head wake up." The brunette cooed loudly continuing to poke. Cloud merely grunted in his sleep, clicking his tongue a few times, and turned over onto his back.

"Waaaaake uuuuuuuupp!" Sora sang more sweetly this time, as he repeatedly jabbed his finger into Cloud's ribs… more… unpleasantly this time . The older man took in a drowsy deep breath and to Sora's joy finally attempted to awaken. Cloud squinted his eyes in bewilderment at Sora his vision slowly clearing and becoming less foggy from his nap. He managed to glare through the haziness in his mind in the direction of the outline of the boy.

"Shit, Sora, I'm tired…" He complained in a high pitched whine, waving an angry arm towards Sora to try and shoo him away. "Leave me sleep..." with that he rolled back over on his side and began to snore again.

Sora rolled his eyes. Figures. With Cloud nothing was ever easy. He sighed still keeping his calm and stood up, hovering over the blonde's lean figure. What to do at a time like this? Well, there was only one more thing left to try…

"Good Charlotte is coming here for a private concert tonight and they are being joined by Bink 182 and Sugarcult…." The brunette still got no response and a grim look spread across his face. Desperate times called for desperate measures, they say.

"…and Leon is sitting in your bedroom…" Sora declared loudly, a clever smirk plastered on his childishly innocent face. The man on the floor stopped sawing logs and twitched slightly, but remained silent.

"Naked!"

Cloud's eyes shot open almost as fast as he sat up. The older man's eyes darted all around the kitchen like a rabbit in heat "What?! Naked!?" He excitedly looked up at the younger boy who was grinning down at him mischievously.

It took him a few minutes to comprehend what was really happening. The damn brat had conned him! "Sooo-ra!" Cloud started to conjure up another famous whiny voice. "That is completely unjust against my rights as a pervert!"

Sora chuckled good heartedly. "I don't see how. I can't help it that using your own fantasies about Leon to my advantage is the only thing that wakes you up these days." He kindly offered a hand to the older man, an amused look still plastered on his adorable face. "And may I ask why you've decided to start using the kitchen floor as a mattress?"

"Oh stop smirking like that! It's more complicated than you think!" Cloud declared in a sophisticated voice, taking the offered hand and standing up to stretch.

"Reeeally now?" Rarely heard sarcasm escaped from the younger man's lips.

"Yes, I'll have you now that it is a very serious matter!" The blonde stated, trying to make a serious face, and failing horribly while he settled for crossing his arms over his chest.

"Your bed caught on fire and is now reduced to ashes?"

"No…"

"Leon and you had a fight and he knocked you out?"

"No."

"Ah! So you're taking drugs and passed out!"

"NO!!"

Sora smiled caringly at the man's frustration to show that he was only teasing him amiably. "You tried to seduce him again and it failed miserably so you cried yourself senseless till you passed out on the kitchen floor?" He guessed easily this time.

"N- Well…yeah actually. You hit that nail on the head, like usual." Cloud admitted with a pout, trying to tidy a few of his yellow spikes which had been disheveled in his sleep. "Is it that obvious?"

"This is the fifth time so far this month that I've found you in an odd place sulking." Sora simply stated, putting his hand on Clouds shoulder as a gentle gesture. "The only difference is that the last time I found you sleeping in the bathtub, with the shower curtain pulled down, so you could use it as a blanket. Oh… and by the way you were sucking your thumb. Might wanna fix that, it can give yah bucked teeth, you know."

Cloud stuck his tongue out childishly. "It's true," he claimed sadly, his face fading to morose again. "I'm a failure… I just can't seem to get him to return all the things I feel for him back to me. It builds up so bad inside that most of the time I can't help but try over and over again and hope that he'll finally crack and open up a bit." He sighed, staring at the floor and kicking his foot at the napkin that had floated there as he continued.

"And I refuse to give up on him… You know how stubborn I can be. I just can't help but think that he cares for me, even if it is a little bit. I want him to want me… and I need him to need me… that is that. And I'll probably die an unhappy man if I never get to see him.. smile… at least smile at me."

"Cloud…" Sora said softly, pulling his friend into a tight embrace. " I know how hard you've tried, and I realize how much he means to you. You two have fought side by side for an extremely long time in the most trying situations. But… sometimes… people tend to develop certain feelings for someone that they spend a lot of time with… and the feelings are not returned, whether they deny them or the simply just don't feel the same way. It happens. I…I know it hurts, but no matter how much pain you feel nothing can change the situation. And I've been through the same thing… with Kairi…"

"It breaks your heart, and it makes you want to tear yourself to pieces. You want to hide under a rock and stay there… for a really long time and sleep your life away. Then you promise yourself that you refuse to love any other person and that you'll die alone if you can't have them even though there's a constant rain cloud over your head…." The boy paused, taking a deep breath, a sad look in his eyes.

"But one day, the sun will break through the cloud…" Sora gave his friend an extra comforting squeeze. "You end up meeting someone new… someone who changes your whole life… and you're happy again, and you look forward to waking up everyday, and over time your heart remends itself and you finally realize that you are the happiest you've ever been in your life." There were tears in his eyes as a blurry image of the island flashed before his eyes. He tried to focus and keep his own emotions from getting in the way of comforting his friend. "Just remember…when things have gone to the absolute bottom, they can only look up. Because it's impossible for it to get any worse that what it already is."

He heard the blonde sniffle, as he pulled away to see a small smile on his tanned face.

"You know what… you're right!" He exclaimed more cheerfully, rubbing at his irritated eyes. "I'll just forget about it for now. It's not worth stopping my whole life and all my fun for someone who refuses to care back, right?"

"Well-"

"Exactly! Get dressed in those sexy leather pants of yours, Sora, we're going out on the town tonight! To the clubs!" He shouted happily and raised his right hand in the air for a high five. Damn, did that man ever recover quickly…

"That's not exactly what I meant, but if it makes you happy…" Sora slapped his hand into a high five against Cloud's then tuned quickly and scuttled to his room to find those leather pants of his when he heard Cloud call him back to the kitchen. He was still standing where the brunette had left him, a more serene look to his features.

"Hey Sora… Thanks…." He said gratefully.

The brunette grinned at the blonde. "That's what I'm here for. To be your marriage counselor." He chuckled good heartedly as he turned a second time to fetch those pants.

"Seriously, though… I never thought your puny brain was _that_ deep." Cloud smirked, punching Sora playfully on the arm as he followed suit in leaving the kitchen in search for something sexy he could wear also.

"Shut up."


	3. IMPORTANT UPDATE

Hello, everyone.

It has been quite some time, has it not? I've counted. Nearly four years have passed since I lost my confidence in writing this fic, and completely gave up. Four VERY long years, mind you. Tonight, while I was enjoying other people's works, I had a strange inkling to look up my own. I was surprised after reading the first few paragraphs at how WELL written my story was, compared to my foggy memories of how I perceived my work back then. Mind you, it wasn't the most cleverly written, or grammatically correct, but nonetheless, I was quite impressed with my young self and even smiled a bit when I read the reviews.

Now for the (hopefully) pleasant news that this update should bring you.

After four very long years, and the discovery of my work, I have decided to revamp my profile, and go right back on writing. I have missed the wonderful reviews, and the creativeness that I found myself in whenever I wrote. I have many creative outlets (acting, singing, drawing, etc.) but none made me feel as accomplished after hours of work like a new chapter to my story has.

Now, I know you may have a few questions.

I am currently working on a Snarry (Severus Snape/ Harry Potter) fanfiction, as well as a Kurtofsky (Kurt Hummel/ Dave Karofsky) fanfiction that I will hopefully soon have up and ready to go, for those of you who are interested. As pertaining to this story, and my other unfinished story- If I happen to receive enough interest in either fanfiction, I'll most likely be willing to pick them back up and continue them.

Also, I will be in search of a beta reader rather soon- preferably someone with a decent sense of grammar, as well as an individual who is a shipper of one of the pairings i choose to write about. If you have interest in that position, please message me, or leave your information for me in a review for this "chapter".

SO, in conclusion of my overly long drivel of a letter to my readers, If you have any comments, ideas, questions, concerns, or would like to support me in continuing with this fanfiction, please leave a much appreciated review for me.

Thank you all so much for your patience!

Miss Furu


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